STAFFLESS checkouts during busy periods at one of Maldon’s newest superstores has been criticised.

Customers of Lidl on Station Road, Maldon, have had to process trollies full to the brim with groceries during the evenings as all staff tills were closed, leaving them to completely process and pack the shopping themselves.

The store opened in November last year, with the company saying it would create 20 full time and 20 part time jobs.

Andrew Taylor, of Cock Clarks, has been in the store several times after 7.30pm to find no staff on the tills and a skeletal shelving presence.

He said: “I went in there one night at 7.30pm after watching the sun set and someone had a trolley load of food to buy, but no staffed tills were open so they had to scan it all themselves through a self-service checkout.

“A woman was getting annoyed, so I told her that they never have tills open at night, to which the worker just looked at me.”

Mr Taylor said the tills face consistent problems, including receipt dispensers not working and some only accepting card or cash.

He added: “They have issues with the self-service as it is. Some of the tills are only accepting card, some only accepting cash, they’re not working properly that's for sure.

“My mother and stepdad refuse to go in there now because of how few staff members there are in there, it’s making people quite angry and frustrated.

“I was next to a lady doing a big shop and it all had to go through self-service. They have I think six tills and two of them were only accepting card payments. One of them the receipt dispenser was broken.”

Lidl were approached but did not comment.